The Encyclopedia Americana (1920)/Parker, Joseph

PARKER, Joseph, English Congregational clergyman: b. Hexham-on-Tyne, Northumberland, 9 April 1830; d. London, 28 Nov. 1902. He studied at University College, London, in 1853 became pastor of the Congregational church at Banbury, and in 1858-69 was pastor of the Cavendish Street Church at Manchester. In 1869 he began his larger ministry at the old Poultry Chapel of London, the congregation of which was transferred in 1874 to the City Temple, Holburn Viaduct. He became one of the best-known preachers in England. His views were liberal, and he spoke with a ready command of vigorous English. In 1887 he visited the United States where he delivered an eulogy on Henry Ward Beecher, with whom he had been on very intimate terms. He was twice chairman of the Congregational Union of England and Wales, and published several works, including ‘Ecce Deus’ (1868); ‘Springdale Abbey’ (1869); ‘The Paraclete’ (1874); ‘The People's Bible,’ “discourses upon Holy Scripture, forming a pastoral commentary” (25 vols., 1885 et seq.); ‘Tyne Chylde’ (1883); ‘Christian Profiles in a Pagan Mirror’ (1898); and ‘A Preacher's Life,’ an autobiography (1899). Consult Adamson, William, ‘Life of Joseph Parker’ (New York 1903).